Holland Blames Mistakes

Steve Holland has put Saturday's 3-0 defeat at Hartlepool down to mistakes. And the rest!

Holland, who spoke post match with Dario Gradi absent, told the official site:

'I was saying to the players at half-time that the points were there for the taking because I felt it was fairly even and neither side had too many chances.

'The gulf between the two sides wasn't 3-0.

'We have made three mistakes that have cost us. They resulted in goals and we have ended up losing 3-0 and feel miserable for it because we felt we were in the game until the second goal. Julien (Baudet) lost his man for the first goal. He only just lost him but that is the difference there. Their striker then got through on our goal for the second goal and then Michael O'Connor conceded a penalty. He was reckless there but we know he can be. It wasn't the first time he has done that and we have been on to him about it.'

Frankly, that shows how easy it is to put a positive spin on things. The performance was dreadful, yet again, and we never looked like scoring. Hartlepool weren't all that, and points were there for the taking, but we deserved the three-nil battering... so what does that say about us?